Thursday 13: July 2012 snapshot

Yesterday a manicurist held me hostage. Two manicurists, in fact. And my little sisters just sat by and watched. And laughed.

After the longest, strangest pedicure, I declined the manicure I’d originally requested. But before I could stand up and struggle my wet toes into flip flops, the technician grabbed my fingers and put them into a bowl of warm water saying the treatment would be only a few minutes. Soon I was elbow-deep in a long, strange, double-teamed manicure, swearing quietly at my bystander sisters (who continued to laugh). But soon we escaped and while enjoying happy hour half-price lettuce wraps, I forgot to be mock-grumpy. Sister time, I found, is good for the soul.

And so, it’s with a warm heart that I look back over the month of July. We celebrated the country’s birthday. I took a couple trips to Southern California. Mr. T came down with pneumonia and was the sickest I’ve ever seen him. We marked our second anniversary and my second trip to EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh. I even packed in some good working time but realized (with horror) that my pants don’t fit, again. With all that in mind, I had fun putting together this Thursday 13 July snapshot…

Be still my heart, garden tomatoes I love you! And I especially love to chop you up, douse you in balsamic vinegar and roast you with cheese. Yessss. My favorite bruschetta recipe is here. Saute the garlic and onions before adding them to the tomato mix if you want to lower the heartburn potential.

9. The cutest garden resident, ever:

Geeta named him Walter the Watermelon. Last week he was the size of a marble. This week, a small baseball. Grow Walter, Grow!

10. Nerd time.

Spent a few days at USC for the NCA Doctoral Honors Seminar.

11. Bounty!

The Sacramento summer heat is doing wonders for my garden. Woo!

12. Dissertation time.

The tiniest TSA checkpoint ever in Kingman, AZ. July was a busy dissertation month with passenger interviews and data analysis. I’m sweating a bit trying to find TSOs to chat with though. If you work in airport security or know someone who does, send ’em my way! Email shawna.malvini(at)asu(dot)edu.

13. Goofball love.

To escape the oppressive Oshkosh heat, we hid out under our airplane’s wing.

Only, the RV-4 is a low-wing aircraft and to get the good shade, we had to lay down.